Castle

Hi All, Here is not what I have done with my Ks kit - more what I am doing! A little sneaky peak of forthcoming attractions on Little Didcot... I should have this one finished in the next couple of days. Possibly. Or not. All the best, Castle

Hi Oliver, It wasn't unknown for them to be kept shiny by the shed crews despite the order for them to be painted on smaller locomotives. The story goes that the crews on the Fairford branch had procured from somewhere an old safety valve bonnet (or brass shiny thing if you prefer!). This was fitted to the engines when they went off for overhaul, the ones they had spent time polishing on the engine being squirrelled away in the shed. When the locos came back, it was likely that if any work had been done on the bonnet at all it would have had a coat of paint slapped over it at best. The old mangy one came off and went back in to store, nice brass shiny thing back in place. That old safety valve bonnet must have been through quite a few visits to Swindon... It's nice when you can tie in a bit of reality* to your model like this isn't it?! All the best, Castle *find a GENUINE excuse!

Hi All, Safety valve bonnet if you want to be uber geeky! I'll get me coat... All the best, Castle

Hi Gareth, Yes, the 81E Pollens are still in plain all over grey. They were repainted for free by the film company that shot Sherlock Homes II there a couple of years back. As they were originally designed as gun barrel wagons, it was great to see the film company load them with replica gun barrels (albeit of a supposed German origin!) for what must have been the first time in many years. All the best, Castle

Hi All, The photos that Paul has very kindly shown me are of two glass wagons numbered in the 902XXX series. These must be part of the Dia. 170 vehicles mentioned in Jon's post No. 11. They are Nos. 902000 & 902003 and are both branded as per Paul's notation above with GLASS MC in small lettering in the centre, about 6" below the top of the side frames. They both have 12T and then the number on the left hand side above the spring and the wheelbase above the right spring they have the wheelbase dimension. Pretty much as I have my wagon. Sadly nothing about users (common or otherwise!), but we knew that was on the way out anyhow. The livery in the photo of No. 902000 is a bit indistinct but it seems that No. 902003 is painted wagon grey all over except the side frames which appear black. This does not seem to have been the case with the remaining paint evidence on No. 41723 at 81E as this seems to have had the all over wagon grey and black patches with white text on top. Under that is the remains of the GWR freight grey and that's it. The plan for little No. 41723 is therefore BR unfitted freight wagon grey with numbers & data as above on black panels and then a small GLASS WC text on a black panel in the middle. Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread about CORALS, I hope it is of use for others and lets see lots more questions and answers about weird and wonderful GWR freight vehicles posted here! I will keep the tags updated as more wagon types are added. And yes, I am aware that I have to write WC on the side of my wagon and how potentially funny that is. No sniggering at the back you lot! All the best, Castle

Cheers David, I will have a look at the picture that Paul has and I will report back! All the best, Castle

Hi Paul, Thanks for your help here - much appreciated! I will sort a PM for you. All the best, Castle

Hi Brian, That's a good point, I wonder whether there were any other manufacturers on the GWR system? Thanks very much! All the best, Castle EDIT: I have trawled my stock of transfers and found that the closest thing I have to Brian's suggestion is 'RETURN EMPTY TO WESTERN REGION'. Do we think that will do?

Hi David, Thanks for that - so if I do a black panel with GLASWAG written on it I won't be far wrong and it looks like I might have to take the restricted use notes off though. Oh well, never mind, win some, loose some! Thanks again. All the best, Castle

Hi All, John Cameron owns Union of South Africa, Dominion of Canada is visiting the NRM and Bittern (a Jeremy Hoskings machine) has spent some time as Dominion of New Zealand. Dwight D. Eisenhower is the second of the North American visitors. It was much easier when they were named after ducks and loco engineers... If you think these names are confusing, try the Castle class - there were several names that were used on several different engines throughout the years! As for the wind up merchant - he is closing the streamlined casing that goes over the smokebox door. It was known as the cod's mouth by crews! All the best, Castle

Thanks for he input David & Miss P, I have transfers for BR wagons that say 'Not in common use' which I assume must have been for very specialist wagons like the CORAL but whether it WAS on then I wouldn't like to say! I think You might be right that the code disappeared under BR especially in the light of Jon's information in post No. 11 Thanks for checking your books for me David by the way. Any more thoughts before the matt varnish and weathering goes on please?! All the best, Castle

Hi All, I have managed to get to the transfer stage with my CORAL A in early BR guise but before the weathering kit comes out, is it likely to have had the legend CORAL A still emblazoned on the side of it in the middle on a black patch? The real thing has had a plate riveted over this area so any evidence is beneath it and is a little inaccessible as a result... I rather liked the NOT COMMON USER thing on the GWR version so I did a similar one in BR style in the same place as the old livery (below the spring, inboard of the axle box on the right hand side as you look at the wagon) but having thought about it, is this likely to be wrong too? There are black patches just visible on the real thing where the number and other information must have been above the springs at each end so I have gone for that as a plan. Thanks in advance! All the best, Castle

Hi Polly, Nowt wrong wit big blue bird from oop norf! We had a visitation from Bittern at 81E a while back and I can recommend the tea and doughnuts in the support coach - cracking bunch of lads and all the best to them when they let her off the leash again in July! It has lived at Southall so long now it must be well on its way to being an honoury Western engine! It's valves are developed from those in a certain Castle and her visit to the LNER in 1925 you know... The redesigned big end that BR fitted to the centre connecting rod to cure the overheating problems with the bearing has more than a passing resemblance to the ones on a Castle as well (although Swindon developed it from a French design!). Despite the regional preferences, there all great machines to still have around and they are all in some way related! All the best, Castle

Hi All, I agree with N15 on this one too. A light weathering too and it will vanish. The cladding on the boiler of any steam locomotive was bound to pick up little dings and knocks in service - the worst thing you can do for the paint finish on a loco is steam it... Even the cosseted locomotives in preservation gain this type of surface imperfection as time and tickets progress. That is an ace model by the way - wonderful to see all your upgrades and so on come together like that. I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi David, I suspect that what may be more of an issue is the age of the tooling rather than just the grade of plastic being used. Most of this tooling was made in the 1960s or so and as a result it is a little long in the tooth. Any impression you get from the original runs by Airfix will be cast when they were much newer moulds. I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi Polly, Why not look at doing the period between 1960 to present day? Also, rewrite history so that the GWS was offered Southall rather than Didcot? This way you can get away with running the GWR liveried stuff you want (the 43XX tender is doing renumbered to No. 5322 perhaps?) , do all of the late BR steam and diesels, DMUs and so on and not have to include the forthcoming catenary system. Visiting main line steam engines and current residents of Southall could be included. Bittern (with two tenders!) Tornado, Royal Scot, Flying Scotsman, Tangmere, and many more have lived or been hosted there and could be justified. The greenery could be part of the scene either way. The Brentford branch could become the GWS' running line. This would give you the excuse to run absolutely whatever you wanted! I was riding a Deltic on Saturday for example! If you extend the running shed to the back scene then you could have the excuse that its much larger than the model and would enable you to keep all sorts of locos in there including the GWS collection and main line residents, with the use of either track extending further out beyond the baseboards or cassettes big enough to hold a pacific and support coach perhaps? If things had been slightly different then it might of happened - the twists of fate in preservation are very small and these small twists have a big end result. A few thoughts for the pot anyway... All the best, Castle

Hi Dave, Hopefully I will catch up with John Barlow sometime over the next month or so and I will get it straight from the horse's mouth so to speak! All the best, Castle

Hi All, It's an OPEN - see? Well, I had got to a bit of a mojo lapse situation with the Super Saloons and the best thing to do in this situation in my book is to have a little modelling 'snack' in the form of a wagon kit to get you back in the mood for the big project. They are quick to show results, easy to do and lots of fun as well so having just scored an unbuilt OPEN C kit from the bay of E I though, well, why not start there? The OPEN C is the GWR's version of the ubiquitous tube type wagons and were first build under diagram O8 in 1907. The first batches had chain and shackle boxes on them but later versions had lashing rings in the four side uprights. They had 4 plank sides and were intended primarily for the conveyance of deals of timber, hence their 25' length but as the name of their wagon brethren suggests, they eventually became synonymous with the carriage of steel tubes. They had the DC III brake system fitted and indeed were among the first vehicles to receive it. They were built in a number of different diagrams including O8/16/19/28/34 and were eventually supplanted by the later O41 TUBE design in 1945. These differed in having the Morton brake system and being 5' longer. Although these were a GWR design, they were built into the BR (W) period. There are several OPEN Cs in preservation. The one that made it to 81E is No. 94835. it was built in 1920 to Diagram O.19 as part of Lot 844 and was one of 370 in the diagram. This wagon lived under a tarpaulin for many years and was in a poor state of repair but the wagon team at Didcot cast their eyes upon it after finishing their excellent work on the flour van (otherwise known as MINK A No. 101720). It was then quietly shuffled from its resting place and before it could complain, was pounced upon by a gang of restorers intent on renovation! As you can see, No. 94835 has been stripped to the frames as the woodwork was thoroughly rotten and now is being assessed for metalwork repairs before being delivered to the rear of the locomotive works for that work to be undertaken. It will make an interesting addition to the serviceable vehicles on site and will no doubt find use in the demonstration freights from time to time. For those interested, here are a few detail shots as you don't get to see a wagon stripped like this very often so I thought it might be of use to some out there in RMWEB land. Little No. 94835 is based on the long out of production Ratio kit of the OPEN C. This kit is a bit of a curate's egg - good in parts. The sides and ends are excellent in their details and really look the part. A split floor seems like a silly idea and my one had the added advantage of being further broken in my kit as well. The axle boxes as supplied (and there are two sets in the kit!) are wrong to my eye and the brake gear is just a little bit too thick when compared to modern offerings and the buffers didn't look right either. Which neatly brings us to the wheels which are plastic mouldings which went straight in the bin... I had also heard the news on this very forum that the axle boxes as assembled were too far apart for modern wheel sets. The plan therefore was as follows: 1 Build the body fairly much as per the kit but put an extra layer of pre planked styrene on the inside to prevent the potential banana happening! 2 Rake around in my spares box until I find suitable replacement W irons and axle boxes. These can then be set inboard a bit to take up the slack. 3 I have an old etch of partly used Mainly trains wagon brake gear and I will modify this to suit. 4 New wheels (the real No. 94835 has 3 hole discs anyway) and brass bearings as well. 5 New buffers from LMS, Slaters 3 link couplings and the lashing rings to be added with fine brass jewellery wire from a craft store. The first job was to put the floor together and before I did, I carved away all the old style coupling mounts which opened up a whole world of space for the 3 link and spring to reside in! I glued it together using my larger engineer's square as a jig of sorts. The chip out the side was also replaced. Before the glue dried too much a slice of planked styrene was added to the top and it was returned to the 'jig'. The end result looked like this: Once dry, the body was assembled using a piece of glass as a guide. I also dry fitted the buffers. The axle boxes proved a bit trickier than I had hoped. I found some spare Coopercraft chassis mouldings in my famed box of tricks. I cut the whole axle box, spring and W iron moulding from the sole bar and then levelled the sole bar detail so that it would fit against the inside of the ratio sole bars. It shifted it back a bit but when I tried the axle, it was still too loose. Grrrrr! The only thing to do now was to sift through he box of tricks for a solution. I found some etched W irons and then it struck me - these would not only space the bearings out just enough but would also reinforce the W irons - ace! The mainly trains brake gear was modified thusly to represent the system on the longer DC fitted vehicles. I also managed to find some moulded door springs too so they got fitted as well. A frustrating but ultimately rewarding hour was spent making (and pinging around the room!) the lashing rings and sticking them on. Eventually eight of them ended up stuck in place. The finished item looked like this: A splash of paint later and it gets us to here. With transfers & weathering it doesn't look too bad for a 30 odd year old kit... And what do you know, no sooner had I finished this one then my other half won a Ks CORAL A on Ebay for me as well, filling in the second of the no longer available kit gaps that I had in the Little Didcot collection. Hmmm, maybe the super saloons can wait a little longer? At least the mojo is back! All the best, Castle

Hi Mark, I have built a model of the related V38 plywood van from the Ratio kit and posted it on my Little Didcot thread if it is of any help or interest: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/51212-little-didcot/page-6 All the best, Castle

Hi Neil, I don't think so unfortunately. All the best, Castle

Hi All, Alien life spotted at Didcot! When I got to 81E there were these bizarre creatures inhabiting the front of the shed - they demanded further investigation. They look like some large coach but don't seem to have anywhere near the right amount of windows or doors - even for a full brake... In all seriousness though, the diesels are here for a Didcot gala with a difference. If I can't have a steam engine then let me have either a Western or a Deltic and this is a prime example. No. D9009 Alycidon is a beautiful expression of the art of the preserved diesel. Main line registered and in early livery it really looks the part! As if one Deltic wasn't enough there is a second here for this coming weekend too! Royal Highland Fusiliers is in the later blue scheme and also lacks nothing in the looks stakes either! Which is more than can be said for this article... I think it was once a Class 37 but now appears to be an exercise in weathering by our old friend iron oxide. Holy Class 37s Batman! Mmmmmmmm - crispy! There is also No. 31 466 which may well have the '3' painted out by the weekend so we can claim to have run No. 1466. I didn't get the number of the Class 33 but here it is. I did work out why they parked the No. D9009 where they did - in this view from the coal stage you can see what must be the hatch for the coal bunker. If they had left it open I could have filled it up for them... GWR Diesel Railcar No. 22 and resident Class 08 shunter No. 08 604 should be in operation along with some of the visitors and the Heavy Freight Mob will be raising funds for No. 7202 by having their real ale bar coach 'The Black Python' open for the lubrication of patrons. I really must post some models on this thread soon... All the best, Castle

Hi Horse, Well, as long as we are talking models here and not the real thing! The loco staff at 81E will be looking for you if we get there one morning to find Earl Bathurst up on bricks like some car with fancy wheels that has been parked too near the dodgy bit of town... All the best, Castle

Hi Horse, What are you trying to do? If it is any help, No. 5051 has the earlier style wheels... All the best, Castle

Hi Horse, As preserved No. 4079 has the later style of driving wheels. There is a great picture of it here: http://www.dflitcroft.co.uk/The%20Railway%20Image/Early_Years/1970s/1975/1975_March.htm I hope this helps! All the best, Castle

Hi Mark, That is an absolutely ace model you are brewing up there - well done. Thanks for the information as well. I was getting to the crawl all over it stage myself but as you have already done that and very kindly posted the information I won't! You are right in as much as that people keep looking at it as a potential project and then getting distracted into other things but I think it will get done eventually even if simply because it is the sole survivor. As you say however, it will be a major job to put it all right - it has suffered greatly at the hands of both previous owners and the dreaded metal moth... I think I may just do mine in GWR freight grey just post nationalisation, with painted out GW and the number with an added W just on the basis that its as good a guess as anything else! Hopefully this helps others in the future too. If anyone else has a question about unusual or rare GWR wagons then please feel free to use this thread! All the best, Castle